Michael Parks Elevated to President, Financial
Services, as Koby Hackradt,
Carter English take on Employee
Benefits Leadership
FORT
WORTH, Texas, May 9, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Higginbotham, the
largest independent insurance, financial and HR services firm
headquartered in Texas and one of
the top firms in the country, announced a series of promotions
within the Financial Services division.
Higginbotham Announces Executive Promotions
for Michael Parks, Koby Hackradt, and Carter English.
Long-time executive team member Michael
Parks has been elevated to the role of President, Financial
Services, while Koby Hackradt takes
over Parks' previous leadership duties as Chief Operations Officer
(COO), Employee Benefits, and Carter
English joins Hackradt in overseeing Employee Benefits in a
new Chief Business Officer role. These moves are intended to match
current growth at Higginbotham and
prepare for future milestones by drawing on deep bench strength to
scale-up operations and enhance client services.
As President, Financial Services, Parks will focus on executive
strategy in a role that oversees many departments — including
Employee Benefits, which he shepherded through impressive levels of
growth for almost 35 years.
"Michael is a big-picture thinker," Higginbotham Chairman and
CEO Rusty Reid said of his long-time
lieutenant and friend. "He can look at every side of a decision and
figure out exactly where and how things should fit together. As the
company grows and moves forward, we need his keen mind working 'on
the business' more than 'in the business' so we've moved him up and
expanded his role. That gave us the opportunity to tap a pair of
great new leaders to fill his previous post managing day-to-day
operations in Employee Benefits."
Promoted from Managing Partner to COO, Employee Benefits,
Hackradt has served Higginbotham
for over 14 years and looks forward to increasing the scope of that
service by optimizing operations and enhancing employee benefits
service delivery across a growing footprint of Higginbotham partner offices.
"Employee benefits service is such a vital part of the company,
and we owe that to Michael Parks,"
Hackradt said. "With the company also growing from a single-state
shop to 16 states and counting, day-to-day management of those
services has become an enormous task. That Michael was able to
build a team under him and hand over responsibility when the time
was right says so much about his character, his foresight, and his
leadership."
Promoted from Managing Partner to Chief Business Officer,
Employee Benefits after eight years with Higginbotham, English explained the division
of leadership duties in the newly organized department:
"We're filling big shoes in a rapidly growing company, so Koby's
going to be handling operations, while I look after revenue and
sales growth. He's got all things facing accounts — account
management and servicing, and our value-added services — while I've
got all things facing producers — sales, growth, and carrier
relations. It's a team effort, which works great for us as we both
have a background in football and football coaching."
Speaking of his admiration for Michael
Parks and the future at Higginbotham, English concluded, "Michael has
always been a mentor to me and Koby. Now he's handed the Employee
Benefits keys off to us, and we are determined to make him proud.
Hopefully in the next twenty or thirty years, we'll get to do the
same for the next batch of leaders here at Higginbotham."
A trio of committed Texans, Michael
Parks received a BFA from Texas
Christian University (TCU),
while Koby Hackradt received a BS
from Texas A&M University, and
Carter English earned a BBA in
Marketing from the TCU Neeley School of Business.
ABOUT HIGGINBOTHAM
Higginbotham is a single source
solution for insurance, financial and HR/employee benefits
services. The employee-owned firm was established in 1948 and ranks
by revenue today as the nation's 21st largest independent insurance
brokerage. Based in Fort Worth,
Texas, Higginbotham serves
businesses and individuals through locations across the nation. The
firm specializes in tailoring programs to meet each client's unique
needs, and in standing by those programs with their Day Two
Services®, which provide proactive customer support through the
life of each policy.
Higginbotham is a values-driven
firm that strives to be family to employees, accountable to
clients, teammates to carriers, and generous to communities.
Visit higginbotham.com for more information.
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SOURCE Higginbotham